certains

/\sɛʁ.tɛ̃\/ adj

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#263

in French word usage

Misspellings

12

tracked variants

Confusables

6

similar word pairs

certains is anFrenchadj. It means: Masculin pluriel de certain. Pronounced \sɛʁ.tɛ̃\. It ranks #263 in French word frequency. Often confused with crains and certain.

Key facts for certains
PropertyValue
Headwordcertains
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\sɛʁ.tɛ̃\
Letters8
Frequency rank#263
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of certains in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for certains is 8 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \sɛʁ.tɛ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #263 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Masculin pluriel de certain.".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for certains, with forms such as "ccertains", "ceratins", and "cerrtains". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "crains", "certain", "certaine", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is certains, spelled C-E-R-T-A-I-N-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Masculin pluriel de certain.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccertains,ceratins,cerrtains,certainns,certainss,certaisn,certanis,certians,certtains,cetrains,cretains,ecrtains

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for certains

Misspelling Variants of "certains"

ccertains9ceratins8cerrtains9certainns9certainss9certaisn8certanis8certians8
Misspelling Variants of "certains"

Frequency rank: #263 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "certains"?
"certains" is spelled C-E-R-T-A-I-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \sɛʁ.tɛ̃\.
What does "certains" mean?
As an adj, "certains" means: Masculin pluriel de certain.
What words are commonly confused with "certains"?
"certains" is commonly confused with "crains", "certain", "certaine". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "certains"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "certains" is \sɛʁ.tɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "certains" come from?
"certains" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.